Internal combustion engine



. 1943- E. T. RODGERS INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 12, 1939 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 feat/M4- Twi j nm Y ATTORNEY.)

Oct. 12,1943. T. RODGERS 1,

I ER

Filed Dec. 12, 1959 7 Sheets-Shet 2 l Im y l m J} W ATTORNEYS Get. 12, 1943. I RODGERS 2,331,801

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE ATTORNEYS Oct. 12, 1943. I E, r. RODGERS 1 I INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 12, 1939 7 Sheets-*Sheet 4 a La 41v YOR/ dun-"i I. i em 64mm XJWM ATTORNEYS 1943- E. T. RODGERS 2,331,801

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 12, 1939 TSheets-Sheet 6 BY 94M 0 \ldh E. T. RODGERS -2,331,80l

INTERNAL" COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 12. 1939 '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Zg r 1%;52 BY [db/#1110 I ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 12, 1943 2,331,801 INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Edward T. are, New York, N. Y., assignor,

by mesne assignments,

to Marie Minnie 011' Application December 12, 1939, Serial No. 308,858

9 Claims.

This invention relates to an internal combustion engine and more specifically to certain accessories therefor.

In general, it is an object of the invention. to provide a device of the character described which will efiiciently perform the purposes for which it is intended, which is simple and economical of construction, which can be expeditiously, conveniently and safely manipulated, and which can ment at predetermined times.-

Another object is to provide a pump for injectin; fuel at high pressure into a combustion en- E e.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be examplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be hadto the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view, in elevation and partly in section, of amachine embodying one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the rear of the machineshowninfilal;

Fig. 3 is a view, in elevation and in section, and taken along the line 8-4 of Fig. 2, of the machine shown in Figai and 2;

Fig. 4 is emotional and somewhat enlarged view of the elements shown in the upper right hand corner of Fig. 3;, a

Fig. 5 is a sectional view 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1 but with valve cover plate removed;

F18. 7 is a section of line 7-1 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 8 is a series of sections, taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 4, at diflerent elements there shown;

taken along the line positions of the a detail, taken along the Fig. 9'is a perspective-view of the crank shaft showninFig. 3; I

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of a portion of the precombustion chamber taken along the line iii-iii of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the valve-supporting member of Figs. 3' and 4. l

' In the drawings, M denotes a plurality of cylinders arranged radially in a plane about a centr'al shaft. inders arranged radially ina plane behind the first-mentioned plane, the alternate cylinders of the two pluralities being angularly staggered. A supercharger it receives air through inlet It. The air is propelled by impeller i8 in scroll case it to a plurality of conduits 22. The latter lead to the aspiration ports in the cylinders.

Each rear cylinder is provided with a piston rod 24 fixed at its central end to the rear ele-. ment 28 of the crank shaft. Similarly piston rods 28 in each of the front cylinders are fixed to the front element 30 of the crankshaft, there being a central crank shaft element 32 connecting elements 25 and 80. The output shaft 34 is attached to shaft element 30 through reduction gears 8|.

. Each cylinder is provided with a head 36, generally conical in shape, on the inner surface of which there is a circumambiently arranged valve seat structure, more specifically a conical valve seat 38 up against which is held the conical valve 46 by bolts 42 which support the valve from and against annular cap M. The latter sits over an annular tensioning member 46 (see Fig. 11) having an annular raceway 48 on the upper surface thereof in which frictionless bearings 49 ride; The valve. is provided with ports 50 which register with the cylinder head ports 52 for certain positions of thevalve. Exhaust pipes 53 lead away from ports 52. I

There is a central inwardly extending dome M which is integral with or permanently attached to each valve 40. The interior of the dome forms a precombustion chamber 56 the outer hole of tend helical disposed slots 63 (see Fig. 10) which open on one side of the dome into the cylinder and. on the other side, into the precombustion chamber. Thus as is apparent from Figs. 4 and l 5 the skirt or skirt-shaped portion of the conical valve 40 is arranged circumambiently of the preiZ denotes a second plurality of cyl-' which is formed for the fuel-nozzle elements 58 through which passages Glpass, fuel being super I may pass.

- predetermined times relative to the position of the pistons and crank shaft. Thus, links 64 may beoperated by a .conventional excentric 85 on the rear shaft element 26. There is one such link for each cylinder. Each link causes a radial motion in its respective and connected sleeve 88. There is a shaft 88 for each cylinder leading radially away from the crank shaft toward the cylinder head. The radial motion of the sleeves 80 is transformed into an oscillatory motion of the shaft 88 by any suitable mechanism. Thus, there may be ball bearings I0 associated with shaft 08 and extending into respective troughs 12 of sleeves 06. The troughs may lead in part I around the axis -of shaft 88 and in part along that axis whereby an axial movement of a sleeve 00 will cause an oscillation of the shaft 68 during at least a portion of the movement of the sleeve. The shape of the troughs determines the velocity and acceleration of the angular motion of shaft 08 as it turns in bushing 14.

The outer end of shaft 68 is connected to valve 40 so as to cause anoscillation of the valve which may be controlled as to velocity, etc., bythat connection. The valve and cap 48 are permanently united and the latter may comprise a journal element in which a crank pin I6 attached to a rod may rotate, or the" pin may be fixed to the cap and rotate in a journal element I8 which is attached to rod 80. These arrangements are equivalent in'operation. If desired, there may be anti-friction members, as shown, between pin 10 and iournal'IB. The rod extends perpendicular to shaft 68 in a sleeve 82 with a. bushing 86 therebetween. It will be seen that. as the shaft 08 is oscillated about its axis, rod 80 will be moved Since one end .of rod 80 is attached in one way or another to the valve cap 44, rod 80' is forced to slide in and out of sleeve 82 and, at the same time, pin 18 is forced to follow the circular path about the cylinder axis. In this way, the valve two outlets 88 and-80 which open into a cylindrical chamber 82 in which there is a rotatable cylindrical lining 84 which is provided with radial passageways 88 and 88. Passageway 86 has considerable angular extent around cylindrical lining 84. Passageway 88. axially spaced from passageway 88, is of considerable less angular extent and need only be large enough to register with outlet 80 at one position of the lining. The lining and a plunger I00, which extends thereinto movably, comprise a pump for supplying the fuel at high pressures to nozzle 58 at predetermined times as determined by the position of the crang shaft element80.

The chamber 82 is formed by a general casin element I02 through which conduit 88 and plun I'he crank shaft element 80 is disk-shaped and has a cam I04 on its periphery. A roller I08 rides on the. pe p y of Shaft ment 80 and, in passing over lift I04, causes connecting element In and plunger I00 to be momentarily raised, giving the pumping stroke. At 'the beginning of that stroke, the interior of .7 i

chamber 82- connects through'passageway 88 to the fuel supply conduit 88 but it does not connect through outlet 80 because, as shown in Fig. 8a, passageway 88 is not then in registry with outlet 80. The pump vent 0 leads at all times from the pump chamber to passage 60 of p the fuel nozzle.

Means are provided whereby the motion of the plunger causes the lining 84 to rotate so that, at a point in the stroke of plunger I00, the chamber 82 is connected to the inlet conduit 86, even after the plunger has passed inlet passageway 86 by means of the fact that passageway 88 can be brought around into registry with opening 80.

Such mechanism may comprise a key III fixed to lining 84 and extending into a spiral keyway H4 in plunger I00.

The operation of the pump is as follows. At the beginning of the stroke, supply conduit 08 is in communication with chamber 82 through passageway 86 and the outlet conduit 88. Passageway 88 and outlet conduit 80 are not in registry. The plunger begins to rise, closing passageway 80 and forcing the fuel out through vent IIII. As the plunger moves into chamber 91, lining 84 is caused to rotate by the action of key H2 in slot II4. After a time, passageway 86 comes into registry with conduit outlet 80 and so that its axis rotates about the axis of shaft 68.

. and all statements of the scope of the invention,

of that lining is accomplished by the rotation,

manually or otherwise, of a handle H6 which is keyed to plunger I00. In Fig. 8 there are shown four original positions of the lining with respect to the casing I02. It will be seen that if the lining is in the position shown in Fig. 8a, the plungerwill have to move farther before passageway 88 and outlet are in registry than will be the case if the original setting of the lining, as determined by handle I I6, is that shown in Fig. 8d.

A scavenging chamber I0l (see Fig. 4) may. be provided, extending away from each bore in which each plunger I00-operates. These chambers are, in'each case, at a distance from chambers 88. They are connected by conduit I08 (see Fig. 1) to a pump (not shown).

The operation of the machine as a whole, i. e..

as 9. Diesel; engine, will be understood from the claims are intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having dwcribed my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination comprising an oscillant valve for the control of egress of gases, a crank pin element Journaled to said valve, a rod fixed to said pin and slidable in a sleeve, said sleeve being rotat-- able about an axis perpendicular to the axis oi said sleeve, and means for rotating said sleeve.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination comprising an osciliant valve for the control of egress of gases, rotatable means, conwalls providing a precombustion chamber positioned centrally of said valve for delivery of fluid into said valve, said valve having an end adapted for delivery of fluid to the interior of an engine cylinder, means providing discharge openings through said valve, at least one of said openings extending nearer said end than ,does said chamher, said walls and said valve being rotatable together about an axis which extends in the general direction of the discharge of said chamber.

5. A rotatable cone valve for an internal combustion engine comprising means providing a pre combustion chamber and a discharge orifice at one end' thereof, means to supply fuel to the chamber, and a cone-shaped skirt attached at its smaller end to said means, and terminating in an outer edge extending substantially beyond the discharge orifice, said skirt having valve port openings extending therethrough substantially opposite the discharge orifice, for communication with exhaust passages.

6. A rotatable cone valve for an internal comb s on ine comprising a dome-shaped shell defining a precombustion chamber therein with fuel admission means thereto. said shell having in the domed portion thereof a discharge orifice consisting of a plurality of slots extending at their exit sides substantially radially from the center thereoi' over an appreciable radial dimension or said domed portion, with the inner ends thereof meeting at the center and the outerends thereof describing generally helical paths, and a.

'l. A valve mechanism for an internal combustion engine comprising a. circumambient structure having-exhaust passages extending therethrou'gh, means providin a Drecombusticn chamber and a discharge orifice at one end of the chamber, means to supply fuel to the chamber,

a skirt-shaped wall structure attached to said chamber, and extending in thegeneral direction of discharge from the orifice and therebeyond and terminating in an outer edge, said skirt-shaped wall structure being nested with said first-mentioned structure to cooperate therewith upon relative rotary motion. said skirtshaped wall structure having valve port openings extending therethrough, to communicate with the exhaust passages in certain angular positions of one structure relative to the other, said-openings being located at least in part between the outer edge of said wall and the discharge orifice.

8. A valve mechanism for an internal combustion engine comprising a circumambient structure having an exhaust passage extending theree through, means providing a precombustion chamber and a discharge orifice at one end or the chamber, means to supply fuel to the chamber. a skirt-shaped wall structure attached to said chamber and extending in the general direction of discharge from the orifice and therebeyond, and terminating in an outer edge, said skirtshaped wall structure being nested with said first-mentioned structure to cooperate therewith upon relative rotary motion, and means providing a valve port opening extending through.

9. A rotatable valve for an internal combustion engine comprising means providing a precombustion chamber and a discharge orifice at one end of the chamber, means to supply fuel to the chamber, and a skirt-shaped wall attached to the other end of said chamber rotatable therewith, and-extending in the general direction of discharge beyond the orifice with said chamber.

cone-shaped skirt attached at its smaller end'to means proiecting from the point of attachment to within said wall and with the latter spacedcircumambiently fromthe former, said wall ving a plurality of valve port openings exten g therethrough for communication with exhaust passages in valve seat structure, and located opposite the discharge orifice in'circumambiently spaced relation with respect to each other.

anwsan' -'r. Rename. 

